ጭድ አልባ ሸክላ
1ከዚህ በኋላ ሙሴና አሮን ወደ ፈርዖን ሄደው፣ “የእስራኤል አምላክ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም ያህዌ) ‘በምድረ በዳ በዓል እንዲያደርግልኝ ሕዝቤን ልቀቅ’ ይላል” አሉት።
2ፈርዖንም “እንድታዘዘውና እስራኤልን እንድለቅለት ለመሆኑ ይህ እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ማነው? እግዚአብሔርን (ያህዌ) አላውቅም፤ እስራኤልንም አልለቅም” አለ።
3እነርሱም፣ “የዕብራውያን አምላክ (ኤሎሂም) ለእኛ ተገልጦልናል፤ የሦስት ቀን መንገድ ወደ ምድረ በዳው ተጕዘን ለአምላካችን ለእግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) መሥዋዕት እንድንሠዋ ፍቀድልን፤ አለዚያ ግን በመቅሠፍት ወይም በሰይፍ ይመታናል” አሉት።
4የግብፅ ንጉሥም፣ “እናንተ ሙሴና አሮን፤ ለምንድን ነው ሕዝቡን ሥራ የምታስፈቱት? በሉ እናንተም ወደየሥራችሁ ተመለሱ!” 5ፈርዖንም፣ “እነሆ፤ አሁን የምድሪቱ ሕዝብ እጅግ ብዙ ነው፤ እናንተም እንዳይሠሩ እያደረጋችኋቸው ነው” አለ።
6በዚያኑ ዕለት ፈርዖን ለባሪያ ተቈጣጣሪዎቹና ለሕዝቡ አለቆች እንዲህ ሲል ትእዛዝ ሰጠ፤ 7“ለጡብ ሥራ የሚያስፈልጋቸውን ጭድ ካለበት ቦታ ሄደው ራሳቸው ያምጡ እንጂ ከእንግዲህ እናንተ እንዳታቀርቡላቸው። 8ሆኖም ቀድሞ በሚያቀርቡት ሸክላ ልክ ሠርተው እንዲያቀርቡ አድርጓቸው። የሥራ ድርሻቸውን አትቀንሱ። ሰነፎች ናቸው፤ ‘ሄደን ለአምላካችን መሥዋዕት እንሠዋ’ የሚሉትም ለዚህ ነው። 9ለሐሰት ወሬ ስፍራ ሳይሰጡ ተግተው እንዲሠሩ ሥራውን አክብዱባቸው።”
10ከዚያም የባሪያ ተቈጣጣሪዎቹና አለቆቹ ወጥተው ለሕዝቡ፣ “ፈርዖን የሚለው ይህ ነው፤ ‘ከእንግዲህ ጭድ አልሰጣችሁም፤ 11ሂዱና የራሳችሁን ጭድ ከየትም ፈልጋችሁ አምጡ፤ የሥራ ድርሻችሁ ግን ከቶ አይቀነስም’ ” አሉ። 12ስለዚህም ሕዝቡ በጭድ ፈንታ ገለባ ለመሰብሰብ በግብፅ ምድር ሁሉ ተሰማሩ።
13የባሪያ ተቈጣጣሪዎቹም “በየዕለቱ መሥራት የሚገባችሁ ሥራ ቀድሞ ጭድ ስናቀርብላችሁ ከምትሠሩት ሥራ ማነስ የለበትም” እያሉ ያጣድፏቸው ነበር። 14የሥራው የቅርብ ኀላፊዎች ተደርገው በፈርዖን የባሪያ ተቈጣጣሪዎች የተመደቡት እስራኤላውያንም፣ “የትናንቱንም ሆነ የዛሬውን ሸክላ ሥራ ድርሻችሁን እንደ ቀድሞው ለምን አላሟላችሁም?” እየተባሉ ይጠየቁና ይገረፉ ነበር።
15ከዚያም ሥራውን በቅርብ ሆነው የሚቈጣጠሩት እስራኤላውያን ኀላፊዎች ፈርዖን ፊት ቀርበው እንዲህ ሲሉ አቤቱታ አቀረቡ፤ “እኛን ባሮችህን እንደዚህ የምታደርገን ለምንድን ነው? 16ለእኛ ለባሮችህ ጭድ ሳያቀርቡልን ሸክላ ሥሩ ይሉናል፤ ጥፋቱ የገዛ ሰዎችህ ሆኖ ሳለ እኛ ባሮችህ ግን እንገረፋለን።”
17ፈርዖንም እንዲህ አለ፤ “ልግመኞች! እናንተ ልግመኞች! እየደጋገማችሁ ‘እንሂድ ለእግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) እንሠዋ’ የምትሉት ለዚህ ነው። 18በሉ አሁንም ወደ ሥራችሁ ተመለሱ፤ ምንም ጭድ አይሰጣችሁም፤ ያም ሆኖ ግን የተመደበላችሁን ሸክላ ማምረት አለባችሁ።”
19እስራኤላውያን ኀላፊዎችም፣ “በየቀኑ የምትሠሩት ሸክላ ቍጥሩ ቀድሞ ከሚሠራው ሸክላ ማነስ የለበትም” ተብሎ ሲነገራቸው ችግር ላይ መውደቃቸውን ተረዱት። 20ከፈርዖን ዘንድ እንደ ተመለሱ ሲጠብቋቸው የነበሩትን ሙሴንና አሮንን አግኝተው፣ 21“እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ይይላችሁ፤ ይፍረድባችሁም፤ ፈርዖንና ሹማምቱ እንዲጠየፉን አደረጋችሁ፤ እንዲገድሉን በእጃቸው ሰይፍ ሰጣችኋቸው” አሏቸው።
እግዚአብሔር እንደሚታደግ ተስፋ ሰጠ
22ሙሴም ወደ እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ተመልሶ፣ “አቤቱ ጌታ (አዶናይ) ሆይ፤ በዚህ ሕዝብ ላይ መከራ ያመጣኸው ለምንድን ነው? የላክኸኝ ለዚሁ ነው? 23በአንተ ስም እናገር ዘንድ ወደ ፈርዖን ከሄድሁበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ፣ እርሱ በዚህ ሕዝብ ላይ አበሳ አምጥቷል፤ አንተም ሕዝብህን ከቶ አልታደግኸውም” አለው።
1And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. 2And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
3And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. 4And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. 5And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. 6And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, 7Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. 9Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.5.9 Let there…: Heb. Let the work be heavy upon the men
10¶ And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. 11Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. 12So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. 13And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.5.13 your daily…: Heb. a matter of a day in his day 14And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?
15¶ Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? 16There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people. 17But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the LORD. 18Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. 19And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task.
20¶ And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: 21And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.5.21 to be…: Heb. to stink 22And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? 23For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.5.23 neither…: Heb. delivering thou hast not delivered
